


a costume party

by westofmoon



Series: in case you didn't know au [2]
Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, green lipstick, halloween party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 20:29:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21259193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westofmoon/pseuds/westofmoon
Summary: Aelin dresses Rowan up for a party...





	a costume party

**Author's Note:**

> set during my icydk au. so a few vague mentions and references to the main story but no major spoilers. 

“Are you guys going to our Samhain party Saturday night?” Dorian asked, leaning against his locker door. 

Aelin perked up, glancing over at her friends as she finished fastening her boots. She had nearly forgotten about Dorian’s party with everything that was going on.

Lysandra nodded as she tied hair back into a knot, “Yes! I’m making Aedion dress up with me.” She gave the blond in question a catlike grin. Aedion grumbled but Lys ignored him and turned to Manon with a raised brow. “Are you going to dress up?” she asked, her tone only half joking. 

Manon shoved her locker shut. “No,” she snorted, as if it were the dumbest thing she had ever heard, pointedly ignoring her pouting boyfriend.

Aedion smirked, “Blackbeak doesn’t need to dress up, she’s a witch all the time.” Manon’s burnt gold eyes narrowed as she gave him a vulgar gesture. 

Laughing quietly, Aelin slipped out of the room and down the back hallway to Rowan’s office. He was sitting at his desk, keyboard clicking as he typed up some report, his dark green eyes locked on the computer screen. Those eyes shifted to her as she entered the room and a grin spread across his face as she came t perch on his desk.

“Hello, fireheart.” Rowan turned to face her, placing his hands on her thighs, his thumbs rubbing small and she could feel the warmth of his touch though the fabric of her pants as he leaned up to kiss her. When he pulled away, her lips turned up into a grin. He to arch a silver brow. “What are you up too now?” he asked, laughter in his tone.

She huffed. Right to the point then. “There’s a party this weekend, and I was wondering if you wanted to go? With me?“ As if it were even a question. But Rowan made a face, looking at her as if she had just asked him to dye his eyebrows blue. “Please, baby? We didn’t get to do anything together last year,” she pouted, crossing her arms. From the slightly pained look that crossed his face at her words, she didn’t need to remind him of why. "You owe me, buzzard.”

_Do I really have too_? Rowan’s eyes seemed to ask, full of teasing. She knew he wasn’t going to say no, but still figured she’d give him a little nudge anyway. 

Grinning, she leaned towards him. “If you don’t…” she trailed off as she moved closer to whisper in his ear. When she pulled back Rowan’s green eyes were wide and his hands tightened on her thighs. 

“That…,” he began, his voice low and rumbling, like a growl, “is not very nice.”

She smirked triumphantly at him, even as his tone had her toes curling in her boots. “All’s fair in love and Samhain parties, Whitethorn.”

He huffed a laugh and leaned forward, pressing another kiss to her jaw before he falling back in his chair. “You knew I would agree anyway. The threat was hardly necessary, princess.” His green eyes were practically glowing with amusement. “So, what are you going to dress up as?“ He smirked, biting his lip as his eyes trailed over her. "A sexy police officer?” 

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I’m always a sexy police officer.”

“What are you going as then?” he asked, laughing.

“What are we going as,” she corrected, walking her fingers along his forearm. And she grinned wickedly as his amusement fled. “And I have a very good idea.” 

~*~*~

Aelin wouldn’t tell him what her ‘very good idea’ was exactly. But once both of their shifts ended, she dragged him out to go shopping for costumes. He had expected a quick trip to one of the many costume stores that always popped up around town during the holiday, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, Aelin went to a thrift store.

Rowan followed along behind her as she searched the racks with a fine toothed comb, until she found something she deemed interesting. She selected a pair of black and gray pinstriped pants that just so happened to be his size, a gray button down shirt, and a black suit vest. 

At another rack, she let out hissed yes as she yanked out a dark green suit jacket, forcing him to try it on. Aelin was practically jumping up and down at how well it fit him, but ignored his questioning look.

On their way to pay for their selections, she grabbed an armful of silky scarves in varying colors, black and silver and green, off of a stand, a pair of well-worn gloves, and even an old broken pocket watch.

Once they left the thrift store, Aelin visited a small antique shop on Main Street and came back to his truck with small bag and a large square box both of which she refused to divulge the contents of. She even swatted his hand when he tried to lift the lid. “Not yet,” she had chided, smirking at his offended look. 

They made two more stops after that, before finally heading home. One at a craft store, where she purchased several spools of white and cream lace, and then a drug store, where she came back with white face paint and emerald green lipstick. When he asked her about it, she gave him a gleefully amused look that left him feeling slightly terrified.

That very night Aelin began working on their costumes, desperate to get them finished before Saturday night. 

She worked nonstop, from the second she walked through their front door each evening, until she fell asleep wherever she was working, and Rowan would carry her up to bed. She sewed and sewed, attaching spools of thread to one of the black silk scarves, and endless lengths of lace to an old light-blue summer dress and the cuffs of the green jacket, ripping it to make it look old and tattered. Right up until the last possible second, when they only had a couple of hours left to get ready for before the party. 

Like a good boyfriend, he sat and endured her ministrations as she painted his face, until his skin looked wan and washed out, as she dusted his cheeks and around his eyes with all manner of colored and glittery powders. And when she brought out that green lipstick… He had eyed it warily, but knew better than to argue with her. He trusted her.

When she was finished, and they were both dressed in their costumes, Aelin pulled him in front of a mirror to stand next to her as she looked them both over. 

Aelin wore the dress she had adorned with lace and some black ribbons, white stockings on her legs and black ankle boots on her feet. Her hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders, held back by a simple black ribbon headband. While Rowan had donned all the clothing she had gotten from the thrift store, as she instructed, along with a pair of his old boots. She pinned the black scarf with spools of thread across his front, from one shoulder down to the opposite hip, and she tied the silver scarf around his neck like a cravat. 

On his head was a ratty old top hat, the thing that had been in that big box she wouldn’t let him look in. It was black, the edges and seams slightly frayed in places, and Aelin had tied green scarf with gold swirls around it, draping the loose ends down the back. 

The colors matched the cosmetics she had smeared around his eyes and along his cheekbones. Greens and golds and blacks. Rowan had to admit it wasn’t half bad. Certainly not as bad as he expected, even the lipstick was muted slightly.

“Alice and her Mad Hatter,” Aelin crooned up at him with a smile as she adjusted his hat. 

He thought they both looked amazing, and maybe that was just him being proud of her handiwork, but he grinned at her and pecked her on the nose. She batted him away, laughing. Thankfully, the color on his lips hadn’t smeared or stained her nose.

~*~

Rowan kept his hand on Aelin’s waist as they moved between bodies inside Dorian’s house searching for their friends. The place had been decked out befitting the occasion, fog roiled along the floor around their feet. Fake cobwebs and spiders and bats hung from the ceiling. Lights flashed purple and orange and black all around them in time with the thumping music that vibrated down to their very bones. 

"Is this a house party or a club?” Rowan said it Aelin’s ear, causing her to grin. He pitied whoever had to clean this mess tomorrow. 

They spotted Lorcan, towering over the crowd and made their way towards him. Rowan knew the others would likely give him hell for how he was dressed, particularly Fenrys and Aedion, but he didn’t care. As long as Aelin was smiling.

They reached Lorcan and saw that he hadn’t bothered to dress up, unsurprisingly. His dark eyes flicked over Rowan, a brow arching, but he wisely didn’t say anything. Elide wandered in from the kitchen, dressed as a fortune teller in a long red dress and carrying a drink. “Lorca-,” her eyes fell on him and Aelin and widened. “Wow, you two look great!”

Aelin preened at the praise, just as a voice called out from behind them, a second before a body slammed into them both, nearly knocking Rowan’s hat off of his head. “Aelin!” Lysandra. She released them to moved around in front, dressed as Catwoman in a black body suit, little cat ears peeking out through her brown waves. “You’re both here!” she cheered, sounding a bit tipsy. She looked him over then, her green eyes alight with amusement as she glanced at Aelin. 

“Are you wearing lipstick?” Aedion choked out as he stepped up behind his Lys. Rowan narrowed his eyes at him as Aedion began laughing, so hard he was nearly doubled over. 

“Shut it, Ashryver, or I’ll put you on desk duty for the next month,” Rowan muttered darkly, causing the blond to clamp his mouth shut. He glanced down at Aelin, finding her grinning up at him, and leaned down to whisper roughly in her ear, “You’re luck I love you.”

“Why is Aedion on desk duty?” Dorian asked as he walked up to them dressed as a scarecrow. His eyes widened as he took in Rowan and Aelin, “Aelin, lovely as always. And Rowan. Wow!” 

Manon lingered behind him, glaring at some other partygoer that had drunkenly bumped into her, nursing a drink. Her skin was covered in green paint, her lips stained blood red, and she wore a long black dress and a pointed hat atop her head. 

Rowan’s mouth fell open in surprise at the sight of her. “Manon?” Aelin asked in disbelief. 

“What,“ she asked with deadly sweetness. "You’re the ones that said I was a witch. I just embraced my inner self.” Her golden eyes shifted to Rowan then, looking him over, noting his painted face. She lifted her drink and tipped it towards him in a gesture of mutual suffering, before striding over and dropping down in a sofa chair to glare at people she didn'tlike, which was pretty much everyone. 

Aelin laughed and turned to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Let’s have some fun!”

~*~*~

They drank and ate and laughed the night away with each other and their friends. And Aelin knew Rowan was having a good time for a change, thanks to the smile that lit up his face. 

After a while, she reached over and grasped his hand in both of hers, tugging on it until his eyes met hers, glowing and full of happiness. She gave him a little smile. "Dance with me?" 

He let her pull him out onto the floor where others were dancing to the low, thumping bass. And they danced, swaying and spinning in time with the music. At one point, Aelin even spied Dorian hauling Manon to her feet and out for a dance, the white-haired woman actually cracking a smile, before Aelin became lost again to the beat and the alcohol and the heat of Rowan’s body.

She didn’t know how long they danced. The seconds and minutes and hours blended together. But at some point, her back was against Rowan’s chest as they bumped and swayed against each other, his hand like a brand on her stomach, warming her skin through the thin dress she wore. 

Aelin felt dizzy, her mind and body buzzing, completely consumed by him. He was more intoxicating than the alcohol. 

And then he gripped her hips and spun her around to face him, hands sliding around to her back to pull her flush against his chest. Rowan leaned in to graze his nose along her jaw before pulling back to look at her, a small smile gracing his lips. Aelin recalled another time they had danced like this. 

Rowan’s eyes smoldered, a smirk tugging at his green-painted lips as if his mind, too, had wandered to that night. And as if he were thinking he wouldn’t mind a repeat of that even. The fun parts at least.

She bit her lip, rising onto her tiptoes to whisper tauntingly in his ear, "It’s a good thing I bought the smudge-proof lipstick.”

His green eyes darkened as she pulled back. “Smudge-proof? That sounds like a challenge.”

“It was, Mr. Hatter." 

Rowan growled and grabbed her hand, leading her off of the dance floor and down a nearby hallway, weaving through the crowd of people as easily as if they were parting for him. He didn’t stop until he came to a bathroom door, shoving his shoulder against it. 

But it didn’t budge. Locked. Aelin could hear muffled groans coming from inside and she grinned. Apparently someone else had had the same idea as they had. 

Rowan glanced down at her then, and then they were both laughing, trying to stay quiet so as not to draw attention from the other partygoers. And then his eyes shifted behind her and his brows shot up in amusement, grinning wickedly. She followed his gaze. And then they were both laughing again. 

A closet. It really was just like before. 

This door was unlocked, and Rowan yanked her inside as she let out a squealing laugh. Rowan kicked the door closed behind them and they stumbling back into it in a tangle of lips and tongues and hands. He pulled away just long enough to jam a something, she didn’t know or care what, under the handle to keep anyone from opening it before he grabbed her again, spinning around to pin her against the shelf. 

She couldn’t stop her low moan as his mouth traveled down her neck, kissing and biting at her skin, his tongue tracing along her collar bones. Rowan ground his hips into hers and she knew precisely where this was going to go as she felt him smile against her neck. 

"I believe,” he purred against her heated skin, “that I owe you back from before?" 

Aelin whined at his tone, heat flaring though her core and racing through her like fire in her veins. Rowan pulled back slightly to look down at her, a wicked tilt to his lips as he waited for her to respond. He ground against her again, causing her to gasp.

"Yes,” she answered breathlessly.

Rowan arched a silver brown in amusement and removed his hat, setting it on the shelf behind her head as he leaned in to kiss her. His tongue tracing her lips and slipping into her mouth to brush against hers tauntingly before he trailed his lips down her jaw, her neck, along the low neckline of her dress. 

He glanced up at her through his lashes, the green of his eyes so dark they were nearly black. And the look he gave her as he dropped to his knees her made her want to burst into flame.

~*~

Some time later, when they finally reemerged into the hall laughing and stumbling against each other as they tugged their clothing back into place, Aelin caught a glimpse of Rowan’s mouth and grinned. Because as it turned out, that lipstick wasn’t so smudge-proof after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on tumblr, @westofmoon. I post snippets there. 
> 
> I do not consent to this work being hosted on any unofficial apps or to any other websites.


End file.
